VIN scan recall notification

ABSTRACT

A system and method are disclosed for helping a user determine whether a vehicle is subject to a safety recall and assisting the user with addressing incomplete safety recalls. A vehicle identification number (VIN) may be extracted from an image of a vehicle captured by a user electronic device and used to request safety recall information from a remote information system, which may provide a list of recalls associated with the vehicle. A list of nearby service centers may be identified based on the physical location of the user electronic device, and service appointments to address any incomplete recalls may be scheduled, either automatically or in response to user input.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.15/454,895, filed Mar. 9, 2017, which claims priority to U.S.Provisional Application No. 62/306,506, filed Mar. 10, 2016, theentirety of each which is hereby incorporated by reference into thepresent disclosure.

BACKGROUND Field of Invention

This disclosure relates to the automated identification of safetyrecalls associated with a vehicle, based on a vehicle identificationnumber (VIN) associated with the vehicle, for use in a variety ofcontexts.

Background Information

Many people operate vehicles, such as automobiles, each day, and it isimportant that such vehicles are operated safely. The National HighwayTraffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is responsible for getting unsafevehicles off the road, and mandates that manufacturers recall vehiclesthat do not meet federal safety standards or vehicles that have knownsafety defects. The NHTSA may initiate recall campaigns on vehiclecomponents that it determines are non-compliant or unsafe. The vehiclescovered by a particular campaign may be identified by particular vehicleinformation (e.g., make, model and model year), which may be obtainedfrom a unique Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) located within thevehicle (e.g., on the driver side dashboard or underneath the frontwindshield of the vehicle or driver side door jamb data plate). Once avehicle has been recalled, the faulty component must be repaired at anauthorized service center (e.g., a car dealership). Until it is repairedthe vehicle operator could be driving around with a defective andpossibly dangerous component, which could fail and cause an accident.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The innovation may be better understood with reference to the followingdrawings and description. In the figures, like reference numeralsdesignate corresponding parts throughout the different views.

FIG. 1 illustrates a high level view of the environment in which therecall identification system operates.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of the interface provided on the userelectronic device.

FIG. 3 provides a logical flow for the operation of the recallidentification system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Given the risk of an accident, it is important to ensure that safetydefects and recalls are addressed as soon as possible. But in manyinstances, a vehicle operator may be unaware that their vehicle issubject to a safety recall. For instance, recall notices are sent to theowners of record, but sometimes that information may be incorrect. Itmay also be the case that the owner of record is not the party whoregularly operates the vehicle. Sometimes, consumers simply ignore thenotice, mistaking it for an advertisement. The resale market furthercomplicates the issue, as consumers may sell a vehicle without havingresponded to the recall notice, leaving the buyer of the vehiclecompletely unaware. The recall identification system described below mayassist a user in determining if a vehicle is subject to a safety recalland may assist the user in getting the vehicle repaired if the safetyrecall has not yet been completed. The recall identification system mayalso be used to assist a user when purchasing a vehicle by allowing theuser to determine if the vehicle is subject to a safety recall andproviding the user with additional information to assist in making apurchasing decision. The recall identification system may also provideinformation to insurance companies, which may be used by the insurancecompany, for example, to adjust a user's insurance rate and/or premium.

FIG. 1 illustrates a high-level view of the environment in which therecall identification system may operate. The system environment 100 mayinclude one or more users 101, having user electronic devices 150, a VINcapture system 110, a recall identification system 120, one or moresafety information systems 130 and one or more authorized service centersystems 140. The user electronic devices 150, VIN capture system 110,recall identification system 120, safety information systems 130, andauthorized service center systems 140 may be communicatively linked viathe communication network 160. The communication network 160 may includeintermediate network devices or logic operating according to anycommunication mediums, protocols, topologies, standards, including asexamples, Ethernet, cable, DSL, Multimedia over Coax Alliance, powerline, Ethernet Passive Optical Network (EPON), Gigabit Passive OpticalNetwork (GPON), any number of cellular standards (e.g., 2G, 3G,Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), GSM® Association,Long Term Evolution (LTE)™, or more), WiFi (including 802.11a/b/g/n/ac), WiMAX, Bluetooth, WiGig, and others.

The VIN capture system 110 may be capable of processing digital imagesto extract a VIN contained within the image and determining vehicleinformation associated with the VIN, and may itself include an imageprocessing system and a VIN decoder system. The VIN capture systemdescribed herein may utilize aspects and features described in U.S. Pat.No. 9,036,040, filed Dec. 20, 2012, entitled VEHICLE IDENTIFICATIONNUMBER CAPTURE, which is commonly assigned and incorporated herein byreference in its entirety. The VIN capture system 110 may be accessedover the communications network 160, for example, via a web service orweb API (e.g., a SOAP or REST service). While the VIN capture system 110is illustrated as an independent system, some or all of the features andfunctionality of the VIN capture system 110 may be integrated within therecall identification system 120 or as part of the user electronicdevice 150 itself, for example, as part of the safety recall advisorytool described below.

The safety information systems 130 may include public or private webservers (e.g., database servers maintained by the National HighwayTraffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)) which provide informationregarding safety recall campaigns. The safety information systems 130may be accessed over the communications network 160, for example, via aweb service or web application program interface (API) (e.g., a SOAP orREST service) that may be made available over the communications network160. As detailed in the embodiments described below, the recallidentification system 120 and/or user electronic device 150 maycommunicate with the safety information systems 130 to obtaininformation regarding different safety recall campaigns. The recallidentification system 120 or user electronic device 150, for example, inorder to obtain safety recall information associated with a particularvehicle may be able to submit a query to the safety information systems130 requesting this information, where the query may include a VIN forthe particular vehicle, or other vehicle identification information. Thesafety information systems 130 may respond to such queries by providingthe recall identification system 120 or user electronic device 150 witha list of safety recall campaigns that are associated with theparticular vehicle along with descriptive information for each safetyrecall campaign in the list. The safety information systems 130 may alsoinclude a completion status indicator in responding to the query, whichindicates whether each of the safety recalls are complete or incomplete.

The authorized service center systems 140 may include public or privateweb servers that facilitate interaction with an authorized servicecenter (e.g., a car dealership), for example, allowing users to schedulea vehicle service appointment at the authorized service center orproviding information regarding the authorized service center (e.g.,hours of operation or vehicle manufacturers that they service). Theauthorized service center systems 140 may be accessed over thecommunications network 160, for example, via a web service or web API(e.g., a SOAP or REST service) that may be made available over thecommunications network 160. The web service or web API offered by theauthorized service center systems 140, in many instances, may bepublicly available and freely accessible by any system or device. Insome circumstances, the authorized service center systems 140 may chooseto limit access to certain systems, for example, the systems of apartnering organization (e.g., a partnering insurance company), whichmay provide authentication information when accessing the authorizedservice center systems 140. As detailed in the embodiments describedbelow, the recall identification system 120 and/or user electronicdevice 150 may communicate with the authorized service center systems140 to schedule service appointments. The recall identification system120 or user electronic device 150, for example, may be able to submit aservice appointment availability request for a particular vehicle to theauthorized service center systems 140. The request may include a VIN forthe particular vehicle or other vehicle identification information alongwith any necessary details regarding the safety recall campaign and thetype of servicing that will be performed. The authorized service centersystems 140 may respond to such queries by providing the recallidentification system 120 or user electronic device 150 with a list ofavailable service appointments and details regarding each of the serviceappointment (e.g., a service appointment ID, a service appointmentduration, an anticipated completion time, etc.). The recallidentification system 120 or user electronic device 150, in turn, maysubmit a reservation request to the authorized service center systems140 in order to schedule a particular service appointment. Theauthorized service center systems 140 may send a scheduling confirmationmessage to the recall identification system 120 or user electronicdevice 150 once the service appointment is scheduled.

The recall identification system 120 may include one or moreinput/output interfaces 121, one or more communication interfaces 122(e.g., a wireless communication interface 122 a and a LAN communicationinterface 122 b), an external database repository 124, and processingcircuitry 125, which may include one or more processors 126 incommunication with memory 127. The recall identification system 120 maybe accessed over the communications network 160, for example, via a webservice or web application program interface (API) (e.g., a SOAP or RESTservice) that may be made available over the communications network 160,and may utilize the communication interfaces 122 in doing so. The userelectronic device 150, for example, may submit certain informationrequests or be able to initiate certain actions on the recallidentification system 120. The web service or web API offered by therecall identification system 120, in many instances, may be freelyaccessible by any system or device. In other instances, however, therecall identification system 120 may choose to limit access to certainsystems or devices (e.g., user electronic devices 150 of authorizedcustomers), which may provide authentication information when accessingthe recall identification system 120. The recall identification system120 may also interact with the safety information systems 130 andauthorized service center system 140, and may similarly utilize thecommunication interfaces 122 in doing so.

The external database repository 124 may include one or more databases.The external database repository 145, for instance, may include adatabase containing information regarding authorized service centers.The database, for example, may include general information regarding theauthorized service center (e.g., its physical location or vehiclemanufacturers that it can service) and identify an associated authorizedservice center system 140 with which to interact (e.g., for schedulingservice appointments) along with the features and functionality that theauthorized service center systems 140 may support. The external databaserepository 124 may also include databases containing informationassociated with a particular user 101, for example, a databasecontaining insurance records for a user 101. These insurance records mayinclude, for example and without limitation, vehicle insuranceapplication forms and substantiating documentation (e.g., copies of thevehicle title and registration), vehicle insurance policy information,and/or previously submitted vehicle insurance claims. In some instances,the databases within the external database repository 145 may bemaintained and updated by the operator of the recall identificationsystem 120 (e.g., an insurance company), but in others, the databasesmay be maintained or updated by third parties (e.g., the authorizedservice centers may update associated information in the databasesthemselves). While the recall identification system 120 is illustratedas an independent system, some or all of the features and functionalityof the recall identification system 120 may be integrated within theuser electronic device 150 itself, for example, as part of the safetyrecall advisory tool described below.

The user electronic device 150 may include one or more input/outputinterfaces 151, a digital camera 152 or other video capture device, oneor more communication interfaces 153 (e.g., a wireless communicationinterface 153 a, a Bluetooth communication interface 153 b, a NFCcommunication interface 153 c, or a cellular communication interface 153d), a local database repository 154, a display 158, a GPS sensor 159,and processing circuitry 155, which may include one or more processors156 in communication with memory 157. The user electronic device 150 maybe able to communicate with the VIN capture system 110, recallidentification system 120, safety information systems 130 and authorizedservice center systems 140 over communications network 160, and mayutilize the communication interfaces 153 in doing so. As illustrated inFIG. 1, the user electronic device 150 may be a mobile communicationdevice, e.g., a cellular telephone with a digital camera. However, theuser electronic device 150 may take any number of additional forms,including for example and without limitation, a laptop, digital camera,personal digital assistant (PDA), tablet device, portable music player,or the like.

In operation, the user electronic device 150 may communicate with theVIN capture system 110, recall identification system 120, safetyinformation systems 130, and authorized service center systems 140 toprovide a user 101 with the ability to determine, in real-time, whetherone or more safety recalls have issued for a vehicle 103, provide theuser 101 with details regarding the safety recalls, and assist the user101 in getting the vehicle 103 repaired if necessary. In doing so, theuser electronic device 150 may utilize a safety recall advisory tool,which may be accessed in the form of a software application that may beinstalled on the device, a web application accessible via a web browser,or in some other manner.

The user 101 may use the safety recall advisory tool to identify avehicle of interest (e.g., the user's car) for which safety recallinformation is desired. The user 101 may identify a vehicle by its VIN,as the VIN may contain the vehicle information necessary to identify anysafety recall campaigns that may be associated with the vehicle. Thesafety recall advisory tool may assist the user 101 in determining theVIN associated with the vehicle. In some embodiments, the user 101 mayuse the safety recall advisory tool to capture an image of the vehicle103 containing a VIN 104 using the digital camera 152 of the userelectronic device 150, which the safety recall advisory tool maytransmit to the VIN capture system 110 for processing and decoding. Thesafety recall advisory tool may also allow the user to select an imagepreviously captured and stored on the user electronic device 150 fortransmission to the VIN capture system 110 for processing and decoding.The VIN capture system 110 may process the captured image and extractthe VIN present in the image and decode the VIN to determine vehicleinformation associated with the VIN. The VIN capture system 110 maytransmit the extracted VIN and/or associated vehicle information back tothe user electronic device 150. The safety recall advisory tool maypresent the extracted VIN and associated vehicle information for userconfirmation. As noted above, in some embodiments, the VIN capturesystem 110 may be provided as part of the recall identification system120 or as part of the user electronic device 150 itself. In the case ofthe former, the user electronic device 150 may transfer the capturedimage to the recall identification system 120 for processing anddecoding, and may receive the extracted VIN and/or associated vehicleinformation from the recall identification system 120 in return. In thecase of the latter, the user electronic device 150 may be able toextract the VIN present in the image and/or decode the VIN to determinevehicle information associated with the VIN. Such functionality may beprovided as part of the safety recall advisory tool (e.g., as a plug-inor module) or as a separate application.

In some embodiments, the safety recall advisory tool may allow the user101 to select the vehicle from a list of vehicles associated with theuser 101, where each vehicle on the list may be identified by its VIN.The safety recall advisory tool may store a list of vehicles associatedwith the user 101 in the local database repository 154. The safetyrecall advisory tool may additionally, or in the alternative, request alist of vehicles associated with the user 101 from the recallidentification system 120. In response to the information request, therecall identification system may generate a list of associated vehiclesby examining information associated with the user 101, for example,information in the insurance records database stored in the externaldatabase repository 124. The VIN for a vehicle, for example, may appearon the title or registration for the vehicle, an insurance policy forthe vehicle, or on past vehicle service records submitted with a vehicleinsurance claim, all of which may be stored in the external databaserepository 124.

Once the vehicle of interest is identified, the safety recall advisorytool may request information regarding safety recalls associated withthe vehicle 103 from the recall identification system 120. Theinformation request may include the determined VIN and/or associatedvehicle information. The safety recall advisory tool may request thisinformation automatically upon identification of the vehicle of interest(e.g., once the VIN has been extracted from a vehicle image) or inresponse to a user input provided through the user electronic device150. A user, for example, may click, tap, or otherwise select aninformation request button presented to the user via a user interface ofthe safety recall advisory tool.

The recall identification system 120, in response to receiving therequest, may generate a safety recall query using the VIN and/orassociated vehicle information provided in the request, and may submitthe query to a safety information system 130. The safety informationsystem 130 may respond to the query by providing a list of safety recallcampaigns that have been issued for the vehicle within a particular timeframe (e.g., the past 15 years) along with descriptive informationregarding the safety recall. The descriptive information, for example,may identify a recall campaign number and a list of effected components,and may provide a descriptive summary for the safety recall, adescription of the safety consequences associated with the recall, and adescription of how the safety issue will be addressed. As an example,the recall identification system 120 may receive the followinginformation for a particular recall:

<Recall>

<ModelYear>2012</ModelYear>

<Make>BMW</Make>

<Model>3-SERIES</Model>

<Manufacturer>BMW OF NORTH AMERICA, LLC</Manufacturer>

<NHTSACampaignNumber>12V176000</NHTSACampaignNumber>

<Component>SEATS:FRONT ASSEMBLY:HEAD RESTRAINT</Component>

<Summary>

-   -   BMW IS RECALLING CERTAIN MODEL YEAR 2012 BMW 3-SERIES VEHICLES        MANUFACTURED FROM Oct. 19, 2011, THROUGH Mar. 18, 2012, THAT        HAVE FRONT SEAT HEAD RESTRAINTS THAT EXCEED THE DOWNWARD        MOVEMENT LIMIT OF 25MM IN THE HIGHEST POSITION. THUS, THESE        VEHICLES FAIL TO COMPLY WITH THE REQUIREMENTS OF FEDERAL MOTOR        VEHICLE SAFETY STANDARD NO. 202A,“HEAD RESTRAINTS.”        </Summary>        <Conequence>    -   IN THE EVENT OF A VEHICLE CRASH, THE HEAD RESTRAINT MAY        UNEXPECTEDLY MOVE DOWN SLIGHTLY IF IT WAS ADJUSTED TO THE FULLY        EXTENDED POSITION, INCREASING THE RISK OF PERSONAL INJURY.        </Conequence>        <Remedy>    -   BMW WILL NOTIFY OWNERS, AND DEALERS WILL ATTACH A CLAMP TO THE        FRONT SEAT HEAD RESTRAINT POSTS, FREE OF CHARGE. THE SAFETY        RECALL BEGAN ON May 30, 2012. OWNERS MAY CONTACT BMW CUSTOMER        RELATIONS AND SERVICES AT 1-800-525-7417.    -   </Remedy>        </Recall>

The response provided by the safety information systems 130 may alsoprovide an indication regarding whether the safety recalls have beencompleted (i.e., have been repaired) or whether they remain incomplete(i.e., have yet to be repaired). The recall identification system 120may process the response provided by safety information systems 130 togenerate a recall history report, and send the report to the userelectronic device 150. The safety recall advisory tool may display, orotherwise present, the report to the user 101. In some embodiments, thesafety recall advisory tool may be able to interface directly with thesafety information systems 130, and the user electronic device 150 maygenerate and submit the safety recall query itself. The safety recalladvisory tool may then process the responses provided by the safetyinformation systems 130 to generate a recall history report and presentthe report to the user. The recall history report may provide the userwith the listing of the different safety recall campaigns that have beenissued for the vehicle along with descriptive information regarding thesafety recall campaigns.

The safety recall advisory tool may also allow the user 101 to takeaction to address any safety recalls that have not yet been completed.The safety recall advisory tool, for example, may identify authorizedservice centers where the user 101 may be able to have the vehiclecomponents at issue repaired, and may allow the user 101 to schedule aservice appointment at a particular authorized service center. Forinstance, the safety recall advisory tool when presenting the recallhistory report may generate a link or button for each incomplete safetyrecall that the user 101 may select through the user interface toidentify authorized service centers where the user 101 may have thevehicle components repaired or replaced.

In doing so, the safety recall advisory tool may determine the locationof the user electronic device 150 (i.e., the user's location) andcompare the determined location against known locations of authorizedservice centers to identify authorized service centers within a definedrange (e.g., within 5 miles of the user's location). The safety recalladvisory tool may determine the location of the user electronic device150 using a variety of techniques, and may rely on features of the userelectronic device 150 to do so. The user electronic device 150, forexample, may include a GPS receiver 159, which the safety recalladvisory tool can use to determine the device's location. The safetyrecall advisory tool may also be able to determine the location of theuser electronic device 150 based on the Wi-Fi network or cellularnetwork to which it may be connected (e.g., using cell identification ortriangulation techniques).

In some embodiments, the recall identification system 120 may assist inidentifying authorized service centers that may be near the user. Forexample, the safety recall advisory tool may transmit the location ofthe user electronic device 150 to the recall identification system 120,which may compare the provided location against known locations ofauthorized service centers that may be stored in external databaserepository 124 to identify authorized service centers falling within adefined range (e.g., within 5 miles of the user's location). In otherembodiments, the safety recall advisory tool may request a list ofauthorized service centers from the recall identification system 120 andperform the location comparison itself. The safety recall advisory toolmay also allow the user 101 to filter or limit the list of nearbyauthorized service centers to a particular subset of authorized servicecenters, for example, those which the user 101 may have previouslyvisited. The recall identification system 120 may also assist in thisprocess, for example, by providing the safety recall advisory tool witha list of service locations that the user has previously visited, whichthe recall identification system 120 may identify by examining vehicleinsurance claims associated with the user 101 in the insurance recordsdatabase in the external database repository 124.

The safety recall advisory tool may present the user 101 with a list ofidentified authorized service centers, and allow the user 101 to selecta particular service center where they would like to schedule anappointment. Based on a user selection, the safety recall advisory toolmay determine an authorized service center system 140 associated withthe particular service center, and submit a service appointmentavailability request to the authorized service center system 140. Theauthorized service center system 140 may provide a list of availableservice appointments in response. The safety recall advisory tool maypresent the user 101 with the list of available service appointments,and may generate a scheduling link or button for each available serviceappointment, which the user 101 may select to schedule a particularservice appointment using the authorized service center system 140. Thesafety recall advisory tool may present the user 101 with an appointmentscheduling confirmation.

In some embodiments, the safety recall advisory tool may automaticallyidentify one or more service centers (e.g., those within a defined rangeof the user) that are able to repair the vehicle, and submit serviceappointment availability requests to associated service center systems140. The safety recall advisory tool may receive scheduling informationin response to the service appointment availability requests, and maypresent the user 101 with a list of available service appointments alongwith corresponding links or buttons, which the user 101 may select toschedule a particular service appointment. In other embodiments, thesafety recall advisory tool may automatically reserve or schedule aservice appointment for the user 101, which the user 101 may then chooseto opt-out of or cancel. In such cases, the safety recall advisory toolmay automatically identify one or more service centers (e.g., thosewithin a defined range of the user) that are able to repair the vehicle,and submit service appointment availability requests to associatedservice center systems 140. The safety recall advisory tool may receivescheduling information in response to the service appointmentavailability requests, and may automatically select a particular serviceappointment that may be desired. The safety recall advisory tool, forexample, may select the earliest or most convenient service appointment,which may be determined by comparing the available service appointmentsagainst the current time or the user's calendar, respectively. Thesafety recall advisory tool may go ahead and automatically schedule theparticular service appointment with the particular authorized servicecenter using the associated service center system 140.

As noted above, in some embodiments, access to the associated servicecenter systems 140 may be limited to certain systems and devices. Forexample, the recall identification system 120 may be authorized toaccess the associated service center systems 140 while the userelectronic device 150 may not. In such situations, the recallidentification system 120 may act as an intermediary between the userelectronic device 150 and the associated service center systems 140,passing requests from the safety recall advisory tool to the associatedservice center systems 140 and forwarding responses from the associatedservice center systems 140 back to the safety recall advisory tool.

In another mode of operation, in the context of purchasing a vehicle(e.g., at a used car lot or a military resale lot), the safety recalladvisory tool may allow a user to determine if a vehicle is subject to asafety recall and provide the user with additional information to assistin making a purchasing decision. Similar to the method(s) of operationdescribed above, the user 101 may use the safety recall advisory tool toidentify a vehicle of interest for which safety recall information isdesired, for example, a car that the user 101 is interested in testdriving or purchasing. The user 101 may use the safety recall advisorytool to capture an image of the vehicle 103 containing a VIN 104 usingthe digital camera 152 of the user electronic device 150, which thesafety recall advisory tool may process and decode itself or transmit tothe VIN capture system 110 or recall identification system 120 forprocessing and decoding. Once the appropriate vehicle identificationinformation (i.e., the VIN) has been obtained, the safety recalladvisory tool may, automatically or in response to a user input, requestinformation regarding safety recalls associated with the vehicle 103 bysubmitting a request to the recall identification system 120 or bygenerating and submitting a query directly to the safety informationsystem 130. The safety information system 130 may respond to the queryby providing a list of safety recall campaigns that have been issued forthe vehicle within a particular time frame (e.g., the past 15 years)along with descriptive information regarding the safety recall,including whether the safety recall has been addressed for theparticular vehicle of interest. The response provided by the safetyinformation systems 130 may be processed by the safety recall advisorytool (or recall identification system 120) to generate a recall historyreport that may displayed, or otherwise presented, to the user 101. Inthis way, the user 101 is able to determine the safety recall history ofa vehicle they are interested in purchasing in real time, which may helpto inform the user's decision of whether to purchase the vehicle or not.

The safety recall advisory tool may further assist in this decisionmaking process by presenting the user 101 with additional information,for example, insurance premium information or vehicle financinginformation, which may be affected by whether a safety recall for thevehicle has or has not been completed. The safety recall advisory toolmay submit a request for this information to the recall identificationsystem 120, which may be able to determine insurance premiums orfinancing options for the user 101 or may have such information storedin the external database repository 120. The request may include therecall history report and/or vehicle identification information (i.e.,the determined VIN) along with details regarding the user (e.g., aninsurance account number associated with the user, or user provideddemographic information), which the recall identification system 120 mayuse to determine the user's insurance premium or financing options. Therecall identification system 120 may respond to the request by providinga list of insurance premium or financing options that are available tothe user, along with an indication of whether and how the premium orfinancing rates are affected by the vehicles safety recall status. Forexample, the recall identification system 120 may indicate that theuser's insurance premium would be $300 if they purchased the vehicle asis or would be $250 if certain incomplete safety recalls were addressed.The safety recall advisory tool may present this information to the userto better inform their purchasing decision.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of some of the user interfaces that thesafety recall advisory tool may provide on the display 158 of the userelectronic device 150. In a first view 200, the safety recall advisorytool may present an interface that includes an image window 201 where apreview of the image that will be captured by the digital camera 152 maybe initially displayed. The safety recall advisory tool may also provideone or more user selectable buttons, including a capture button 202, aprocess button 203, and a request security recall information button204. The capture button 202 may be selected by the user 101 to capture adigital image using the digital camera 152, and once selected the safetyrecall advisory tool may provide a thumbnail of the image that wascaptured in the image window 201. The process button 203 may be selectedby the user 101 to initiate the transmission of the captured image tothe VIN capture system 110 for processing and decoding. Where thefunctionality of the VIN capture system 110 is provided within the userelectronic device 150, the process button 203 may initiate processingand decoding of the captured image on the user electronic device 150itself. The extracted VIN and associated vehicle information returned bythe VIN capture system 110 may be presented in the summary window 205for the user to review and confirm. The request security recallinformation button may be selected by the user 101 to submit aninformation request to the recall identification system 120, which mayin turn generate and submit a safety recall query to the safetyinformation system 130, or may cause the safety recall advisory tool togenerate and submit a query to the safety information system 130 itself

In a second view 210, the safety recall advisory tool may present asafety recall report 211 to the user 101. The safety recall report 211may identify one or more safety recall campaigns associated with avehicle 212, provide a description of the safety recall 215, indicate astatus of the safety recall 214 (i.e., whether or not it has beenrepaired), and include an appointment scheduling button 213. The user101 may be able to select the appointment scheduling button 213 toinitiate a connection with an authorized service center system 140,either directly or indirectly through the recall identification system120, and schedule a vehicle service appointment in the manner describedabove.

FIG. 3 illustrates a logical flow of one manner of operation of the userelectronic device 150 and recall identification system 120. A user 101may use the safety recall advisory tool to identify a vehicle ofinterest for which safety recall information is desired (300). Forexample, the user 101 may use the digital camera 152 of the userelectronic device 150 to capture an image of a vehicle 103 that containsa VIN (301). The user may transmit the captured image to a VIN capturesystem 110 for processing and decoding (302). The VIN capture system 110may extract a VIN present in the image and decode the VIN to determinevehicle information associated with the VIN, including, for example, amodel, make (manufacturer), model year, or the like. The VIN capturesystem 110 may return the extracted VIN and associated vehicleinformation to the user electronic device 150 (303). In embodiments,where the functionality of the VIN capture system 110 is provided withinthe user electronic device 150, the user electronic device 150 mayextract a VIN from the captured image and decode the VIN to determinethe aforementioned vehicle information associated with the VIN.

The user electronic device 150 may then transmit an information requestto the recall identification system including the determined VIN and/orassociated vehicle information, requesting information regarding anysafety recalls associated with the vehicle 103 (305). The recallidentification system 120 may generate a recall query in response to theinformation request, and may submit the query to a safety informationsystem 130 (306). The safety information system 130 may respond to thequery by providing a list of safety recall campaigns issued for thevehicle, along with descriptive information regarding the recall, to therecall identification system 120 (307). The recall identification system120 may identify any safety recalls that have not been repaired andgenerate a report, which may be sent to the user electronic device 150(308). As noted above, in some embodiments, the user electronic device150 may generate and submit the recall query itself, and may alsoprocess the received response to generate a safety recall report.

The safety recall advisory tool may present the report to the user 101,and assist the user with addressing the incomplete recalls (315). Indoing so, the safety recall advisory tool may determine the location ofthe user electronic device 150 (316) and compare the determined locationagainst known locations of authorized service centers to identify andgenerate a list of nearby service locations (317). In some embodiments,the safety recall advisory tool may transmit the location of the userelectronic device 150 to the recall identification system 120, which mayperform the location comparison and return a list of nearby authorizedservice center locations. The safety recall advisory tool may generateappointment-scheduling links for each authorized service location on thelist (318). In response to a user selection of a particular link, thesafety recall advisory tool may establish a connection with theassociated authorized service center system 140 and schedule a vehicleservice appointment (319).

The methods, devices, processing, and logic described above may beimplemented in many different ways and in many different combinations ofhardware and software. For example, all or parts of the implementationsmay be circuitry that includes an instruction processor, such as aCentral Processing Unit (CPU), microcontroller, or a microprocessor; anApplication Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), Programmable LogicDevice (PLD), or Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA); or circuitry thatincludes discrete logic or other circuit components, including analogcircuit components, digital circuit components or both; or anycombination thereof. The circuitry may include discrete interconnectedhardware components and/or may be combined on a single integratedcircuit die, distributed among multiple integrated circuit dies, orimplemented in a Multiple Chip Module (MCM) of multiple integratedcircuit dies in a common package, as examples.

The circuitry may further include or access instructions for executionby the circuitry. The instructions may be stored in a tangible storagemedium that is other than a transitory signal, such as a flash memory, aRandom Access Memory (RAM), a Read Only Memory (ROM), an ErasableProgrammable Read Only Memory (EPROM); or on a magnetic or optical disc,such as a Compact Disc Read Only Memory (CDROM), Hard Disk Drive (HDD),or other magnetic or optical disk; or in or on another machine-readablemedium. A product, such as a computer program product, may include astorage medium and instructions stored in or on the medium, and theinstructions when executed by the circuitry in a device may cause thedevice to implement any of the processing described above or illustratedin the drawings.

The implementations may be distributed as circuitry among multiplesystem components, such as among multiple processors and memories,optionally including multiple distributed processing systems.Parameters, databases, and other data structures may be separatelystored and managed, may be incorporated into a single memory ordatabase, may be logically and physically organized in many differentways, and may be implemented in many different ways, including as datastructures such as linked lists, hash tables, arrays, records, objects,or implicit storage mechanisms. Programs may be parts (e.g.,subroutines) of a single program, separate programs, distributed acrossseveral memories and processors, or implemented in many different ways,such as in a library, such as a shared library (e.g., a Dynamic LinkLibrary (DLL)). The DLL, for example, may store instructions thatperform any of the processing described above or illustrated in thedrawings, when executed by the circuitry.

Various implementations have been specifically described. However, manyother implementations are also possible.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A user device comprising: an interactivedisplay; an image capture device; a memory; and a processor incommunication with the memory, the processor configured to: capture animage of a vehicle with the image capture device of the user device;extract a vehicle identification number (VIN) from the image; generate arecall query using the VIN extracted from the image of a vehicle andvehicle information associated with the vehicle in the image and submitthe query to a remote information system; in response to a response tothe query that is received from the remote information system: determinea recall associated with the vehicle, determine whether the vehicle hasbeen repaired to address the recall, and generate a recall historyincluding a repair status of the vehicle based on the determination ofwhether the vehicle has been repaired to address the recall; present therecall history to a user via the interactive display; receive, from theremote user device, a user selection of a recall campaign identified inthe recall history for which a service appointment is desired, and inresponse to the user selection of the recall campaign automatically:determine, with the remote user device, a physical location of theremote user device; identify service centers that are within a certaindistance of the physical location of the remote user device; and displayon the interactive display a list of identified service centers to theremote user device for presentation to the user.
 2. The user device ofclaim 1, wherein the response to the query comprises a list of one ormore recall campaigns associated with the vehicle, a recall campaignnumber, a list of effected components, or a descriptive summary for eachrecall campaign on the list.
 3. The user device of claim 2, wherein theprocessor is further configured to: determine, for each recall campaignon the list of one or more recall campaigns associated with the vehicle,whether the vehicle has been repaired; and indicate on the interactivedisplay a repair status of the vehicle in the recall history based onthe determination.
 4. The user device of claim 3, wherein the processoris further configured to: receive, via the interactive display, a userselection of a particular service center from the list of identifiedservice centers, and in response to the user selection of the particularservice center automatically: identify a service center systemassociated with the particular service center that was selected; submita service appointment availability request to the associated servicecenter system; and present a list of available service appointments tothe user via the interactive display, the list of available serviceappointments being generated based on service appointment schedulinginformation received from the associated service center system inresponse to the service appointment availability request and comprisingselectable links for scheduling each of the available serviceappointments; and receive, via the interactive display, a user selectionof a particular selectable link from the list of available serviceappointments, and in response to the user selection of the particularselectable link automatically: schedule a particular service appointmentcorresponding to the link with the particular service center using theassociated service center system; and present an appointment schedulingconfirmation message to the user via the interactive display.
 5. Theuser device of claim 3, wherein the processor is configured to: for eachrecall campaign identified in the recall history that has not beenrepaired, automatically: determine a physical location of the system;identify service centers that are within a certain distance of thephysical location of the system; identify one or more service centersystems associated with each of the identified service centers; submitone or more service appointment availability requests to the one or moreservice center systems; and present a list of available serviceappointments to the user via the interactive display, the list ofavailable service appointments being generated based on serviceappointment scheduling information received from the one or more servicecenter systems in response to the one or more service appointmentavailability requests and comprising selectable links for schedulingeach of the available service appointments; and receive, via theinteractive display, a user selection of a particular selectable linkfrom the list of available service appointments, and in response to theuser selection of the particular selectable link automatically: schedulea particular service appointment corresponding to the link with aparticular service center using a particular associated service centersystem; and present an appointment scheduling confirmation message tothe user via the interactive display.
 6. The user device of claim 3,wherein the processor is configured to: for each recall campaignidentified in the recall history in need of repair, automatically:determine a physical location of the system; identify service centersthat are within a certain distance of the physical location of thesystem; identify one or more service center systems associated with eachof the identified service centers; submit one or more serviceappointment availability requests to the one or more service centersystems; select a particular service appointment from a list ofavailable service appointments generated based on service appointmentscheduling information received from the one or more service centersystems in response to the one or more service appointment availabilityrequests; schedule the particular service appointment with a particularservice center using a particular associated service center system; andpresent an appointment scheduling confirmation message to the user viathe interactive display.
 7. The user device of claim 6, wherein theprocessor is further configured to: receive, via the interactivedisplay, an appointment cancellation request responsive to theappointment scheduling confirmation; and cancel the particular serviceappointment with the particular service center using the particularassociated service center system.
 8. The user device of claim 6, whereinthe processor is configured to automatically select an earliest serviceappointment based on a comparison of a current time to the serviceappointment scheduling information received from the one or more servicecenter systems.
 9. The user device of claim 6, wherein the processor isconfigured to automatically select a most convenient service appointmentbased on a comparison of a user calendar to the service appointmentscheduling information received from the one or more service centersystems.
 10. The user device of claim 6, wherein the processor isconfigured to automatically select the particular service appointmentfrom the list of available service appointments based on a determinationthat the user has visited the particular service center on a priorservice appointment.
 11. The user device of claim 1, wherein todetermine a physical location of the remote user device, the processoris configured to activate GPS within the user device to determine thephysical location of the remote user device.
 12. A method comprising:capturing an image of a vehicle with an image capture device of a userdevice; extracting, with a processor of the user device, a vehicleidentification number (VIN) from the image; generating, with theprocessor, a recall query using the VIN extracted from the image of avehicle and vehicle information associated with the vehicle in the imageand submitting the query to a remote information system; in response toa response to the query that is received from the remote informationsystem: determining, with the processor, a recall associated with thevehicle, determining, with the processor, whether the vehicle has beenrepaired to address the recall, and generating, with the processor, arecall history including a repair status of the vehicle based on thedetermination of whether the vehicle has been repaired to address therecall; presenting, with the processor, the recall history to a user viathe interactive display of the user device; receive, with the processor,a user selection of a recall campaign identified in the recall historyfor which a service appointment is desired, and in response to the userselection of the recall campaign automatically: determine, with theprocessor, a physical location of the remote user device identifying,with the processor, service centers that are within a certain distanceof the physical location of the remote user device; and presenting, withthe processor, a list of identified service centers via the interactivedisplay of the user device.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein theresponse to the query comprises a list of one or more recall campaignsassociated with the vehicle, a recall campaign number, a list ofeffected components, or a descriptive summary for each recall campaignon the list.
 14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:determining, with the processor, for each recall campaign on the list ofone or more recall campaigns associated with the vehicle, whether thevehicle has been repaired; and indicating, with the processor, via theinteractive display, a repair status of the vehicle in the recallhistory based on the determination.
 15. The method of claim 14, furthercomprising: receiving, via the interactive display, a user selection ofa particular service center from the list of identified service centers,and in response to the user selection of the particular service center,automatically: identifying, with the processor, a service center systemassociated with the particular service center that was selected;submitting, with the processor, a service appointment availabilityrequest to the associated service center system; and presenting, withthe processor, a list of available service appointments to the user viathe interactive display, the list of available service appointmentsbeing generated based on service appointment scheduling informationreceived from the associated service center system in response to theservice appointment availability request and comprising selectable linksfor scheduling each of the available service appointments; andreceiving, via the interactive display, a user selection of a particularselectable link from the list of available service appointments, and inresponse to the user selection of the particular selectable linkautomatically: scheduling, with the processor, a particular serviceappointment corresponding to the link with the particular service centerusing the associated service center system; and presenting, with theprocessor, an appointment scheduling confirmation message to the uservia the interactive display.
 16. The method of claim 14, furthercomprising: for each recall campaign identified in the recall historythat has not been repaired, automatically: determining, with theprocessor, a physical location of the system; identifying, with theprocessor, service centers that are within a certain distance of thephysical location of the system; identifying, with the processor, one ormore service center systems associated with each of the identifiedservice centers; submitting, with the processor, one or more serviceappointment availability requests to the one or more service centersystems; and presenting, with the processor, via the interactivedisplay, a list of available service appointments to the user via theinteractive display, the list of available service appointments beinggenerated based on service appointment scheduling information receivedfrom the one or more service center systems in response to the one ormore service appointment availability requests and comprising selectablelinks for scheduling each of the available service appointments; andreceiving, with the processor, via the interactive display, a userselection of a particular selectable link from the list of availableservice appointments, and in response to the user selection of theparticular selectable link automatically: scheduling, with theprocessor, a particular service appointment corresponding to the linkwith a particular service center using a particular associated servicecenter system; and presenting, with the processor, an appointmentscheduling confirmation message to the user via the interactive display.17. The method of claim 14, further comprising: for each recall campaignidentified in the recall history in need of repair, automatically:determine a physical location of the system; identify service centersthat are within a certain distance of the physical location of thesystem; identify one or more service center systems associated with eachof the identified service centers; submit one or more serviceappointment availability requests to the one or more service centersystems; select a particular service appointment from a list ofavailable service appointments generated based on service appointmentscheduling information received from the one or more service centersystems in response to the one or more service appointment availabilityrequests; schedule the particular service appointment with a particularservice center using a particular associated service center system; andpresent an appointment scheduling confirmation message to the user viathe interactive display.
 18. The method claim 17, wherein furthercomprising: receive, with the processor, via the interactive display, anappointment cancellation request responsive to the appointmentscheduling confirmation; and cancel, with the processor, the particularservice appointment with the particular service center using theparticular associated service center system.
 19. The method of claim 17,wherein the processor automatically selects an earliest serviceappointment based on a comparison of a current time to the serviceappointment scheduling information received from the one or more servicecenter systems.
 20. The method of claim 17, wherein the processorautomatically selects a most convenient service appointment based on acomparison of a user calendar to the service appointment schedulinginformation received from the one or more service center systems. 21.The method of claim 17, wherein the processor automatically selects theparticular service appointment from the list of available serviceappointments based on a determination that the user has visited theparticular service center on a prior service appointment.
 22. The methodof claim 12, wherein to determine a physical location of the remote userdevice, the processor is configured to activate GPS within the userdevice to determine the physical location of the remote user device.